I'll Be Home For Christmas
by Cati Jones
Summary: In which Christmas '05 rolls around, Gabriel gets homesick, and Sam Winchester is smarter than he has any right to be.


**A/N: Okay, so this is a little AU, and the angels are probably a little… wait, no, scratch that, a lot OOC, but you know what? It's Christmas, and I wanted them to be a family, darn it! So, I hope you enjoy, and have a happy holiday everybody!**

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><p><em>The choir's singing for three hours straight now<em>, Janae observed. _We really ought to be getting tired at this point. _Of course, it wasn't as if she was complaining. She had only recently graduated to the Young Women's group in her church, and this was her first _real _performance as part of the choir. She didn't want it to end anytime soon.

She had no idea that this vocal stamina had anything to do with one of the audience members. She had no idea that this particular audience member was there at all.

Yet, he was.

He sat in a back corner, shadows playing across his face. He was hunched down low in his seat, as if hoping not to be noticed; if this was the case, he was doing an excellent job. Though, someone especially observant (if anyone had been observing, which they weren't) might view the look on the man's face and question it. It was odd, as far as facial expressions go, and definitely odd on Christmas. The man seemingly couldn't make up his mind as to whether he wanted to be happy or absolutely miserable.

This was the archangel Gabriel.

And he was homesick.

Unfortunately, this was the way it was every year on this holiday. It was, after all, the one day a year when he just couldn't tune out the voices of heaven. The singing was just so… _loud._

This year was no exception.

Gabriel sighed and sank down a little lower in the pew. Perhaps that was the reason why he was here, in a small church in the middle of nowhere, listening to a group of human girls sing songs that honestly, sounded much better in Enochian. Perhaps it was to try to drown out the tunes drifting down from above.

It wasn't working. No matter what he tried, he could still hear them. No matter how long he listened to these young women, no matter how long he made sure they were able to sing, the songs of Heaven were just a little bit louder.

_I'll be home for Christmas_

_You can count on me_

_Please have snow and mistletoe_

_And presents under the tree_

Fantastic. Now even the humans were depressing him. What happened to the religious songs? Those he could deal with. He'd been there, after all, so he knew exactly what had happened, and it was definitely _not _the way the songs described it.

_Christmas Eve will find me_

_Where the love light beams_

_I'll be home for Christmas_

_If only in my dreams_

"Hi"

Gabriel's head snapped to the side, where someone, apparently, had decided to sit by him. That was the downside of being miserable- random people decided to come and cheer you up.

"Hello," he greeted curtly.

The young man raised his hands. "Hey, sorry," he said. "I just thought you looked kinda down, and, you know, it's Christmas and all…"

Gabriel's gaze softened. He was upset, sure, but that was no reason to take it out on a man who, by the looks of his soul, was a decent sort. "No, I'm sorry, I'm just not having a good day," he replied.

"Family problems?"

He stared at him. "How'd you guess?"

"I know what it looks like, believe me. My brother's probably chatting up girls in the bar we saw on the way in, and my dad's gone missing." He snorted. "You can say I have a lot of experience in the 'family issues' department."

"I can definitely relate."

The man cocked his head. "So, what's your story?" he asked.

The archangel narrowed his eyes, wanting to say something along the lines of 'it's none of your business', but something held him back. He could tell that this guy dealt with enough crap in his life without some stranger making it worse. And he'd deal with more crap in the future, because if he wasn't mistaken, this was…

No. If he wanted to have an actual conversation here, he'd ignore that for the time being.

"My dad left a long time ago," he finally offered. "I left the nest, so to speak, and I haven't talked to any of my brothers since."

The man's eyes widened. "Wow. That sucks. So you don't… you don't have _anybody_?" He ended the question on a whisper, as if afraid that this was the wrong thing to say.

"Nah." Gabriel shook his head. "Who needs family anyway?" He tried for a smile, but he was fairly sure it came out as more of a grimace.

"That's-"

"Sam!"

The man turned around in annoyance. There was another man waiting by the doorway, arms crossed.

_Ah. This is the brother then._

"Just one second!" The man, Sam, apparently, turned back to him. "I've got to go. He's probably got a pie that's getting cold or something. Or a girl." He hesitated. "Look, I know we don't know each other or anything, but you should check up on your brothers, I think. Just to make sure everybody's okay." He offered a small smile. "Family _is _important. Even if it's the most annoying thing on the planet, it's important."

Gabriel raised an eyebrow. "Sound advice." Which was surprising, considering the kid's destiny.

The sound of a car revving outside could be heard. "Shoot. I've really got to go." Sam stood and edged out of the pew. "Just… think about it, okay?"

"Yeah," the archangel murmured. "Yeah, I think I will." He was left staring at the man's retreating back as he left the church, feeling oddly as if the conversation hadn't quite ended yet. "Ah, what the heck," he muttered. "Sam!"

The young man turned, and he smiled, for real this time. He'd give the kid something to remember. "Merry Christmas, Mr. Winchester," he stated, letting the shadows of his wings unfurl against the wall. "Good luck finding your father."

Then, he was gone, nothing but the flapping of wings signifying his departure, and Sam was left standing there to wonder if he'd dreamed up the whole thing.

xXx

The choirs of Heaven sang, as they had been doing for hours, but there were two who couldn't find it in themselves to join in.

Michael and Raphael stood side by side in the heaven of… someone. They couldn't really remember now. They'd been that way for a while, just enjoying each other's company.

They were the only two archangels left, after all. Lucifer fell long ago, and Gabriel… well, no one knew exactly what had happened to Gabriel. He'd just… disappeared one day, and nothing had been heard from him since.

The archangels missed him more than they cared to admit.

They didn't even know if he was still alive.

Raphael sighed, breaking the silence. "We should probably join in," he stated halfheartedly. "It sounds as if they're faltering."

"Yes, I suppose so," Michael replied. His tone was exactly the same. Neither of them wanted to sing; it just wasn't the same with two instead of four.

They stared at each other. Neither made a move to go join the choirs.

"Honestly, this is getting ridiculous," Raphael finally huffed. "We've got to start singing again eventually."

"Right."

A new thread of notes drifted on the air, and they both paused, cocking their heads. "They're starting a new one," Raphael observed.

" 'Hark the Herald Angels Sing'," Michael agreed, a slight smile touching his face. "Yes." He glanced at his brother. "Remember how much Gabriel used to complain about this one? He always insisted that he did not sing when he delivered messages."

"And then I brought up that one time with the-"

"And then he-"

"I couldn't go out in public for a week!"

Michael began to snicker in a way that was most unbecoming of an archangel. "I've never understood why," he choked out. "I thought you looked quite dashing with pink wings."

Raphael managed to keep up his glare for a full minute before finally laughing as well. "It wasn't funny though," he insisted.

"Oh, yes it was," Michael replied, recovering his wits. They stood in silence again for a moment, and then Michael looked back at his younger brother. "To annoy Gabriel then?" he suggested.

Raphael's shoulders sagged. "Alright then. To annoy Gabriel."

All of Heaven shook as the two archangels lent themselves to the song, their interweaving voiced adding something that had been distinctly lacking before.

And then: the inexplicable happened, just at the start of the final verse.

"Hark the heeeeeeeerald angels siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing, you know, if I didn't know better, I'd think you chose this song just to bug me, but you guys wouldn't do that, would you?"

The archangels broke off, slowly turning around. This… this was impossible...

"So…" Gabriel said, twirling a lollipop between his fingers. "Did you miss me?"

And so it was that for once, for just one day, before deals and apocalypses and constant fighting and death, the brothers got a chance to be brothers once more. Their voices filled the whole of Heaven with song.

While back on Earth, a different song came to a close.

_Christmas Eve will find me_

_Where the love light beams_

_I'll be home for Christmas_

_If only in my dreams_

_If only in my dreams._


End file.
